The Hungry MouseBasil & Garlic Pork Burgers
Well, hello! It’s so good to be back in the kitchen! So one of the first things The Angry Chef did when we got back from the country was get to work cleaning up the grill and getting it ready for summer. While he was outside, I whipped together one of my all-time favorite burgers. I made two on the stove for us, and saved the other two for the grill the next day. My favorite thing about these burgers? With just five ingredients, they’re fast and easy to put together.
This burger may not have a ton of stuff in it (sometime I’ll post my hamburger recipe, which is kind of like a meatloaf in patty form), but with loads of fresh garlic and basil, it packs a lot of flavor.
This recipe makes 4 monstrous burgers, or 6-8 smaller ones. Make ‘em as big or as little as you like. You could even form a bunch of mini patties for bite-sized sliders.
Serve them on buns with your favorite garnishes. This burger also makes a great topper to a baby spinach salad.
Basil & Garlic Pork Burgers
2 lbs. ground pork
3 cloves garlic, mashed
1/2 cup fresh basil, shredded or cut into ribbons
freshly cracked black pepper
kosher salt
a drizzle of olive oil, for frying
Makes 4 monster-sized burgers, or 6-8 smaller ones
Basil & Garlic Pork Burgers: Make the burger mixture
Put your ground pork in a large bowl.
Toss in the mashed garlic.
Cut the basil into ribbons.
Add the basil to the pork and garlic.
Sprinkle on some kosher salt, to taste.
Crack on some fresh black pepper (also to taste).
With your hands, mix the basil, garlic, salt, and pepper into the pork.
Keep going until you have a fairly uniform mixture, like this:
Basil & Garlic Pork Burgers: Form the burgers
Divide the meat into quarters (or more pieces, depending on how many burgers you’re making):
Grab one quarter in your hand.
Smoosh it together until you’ve formed it into a nice patty, like this:
Make a little indent in the center of the burger. This will help it cook a little more evenly.
Repeat with the rest of the quarters until you have four patties.
Basil & Garlic Pork Burgers: Fry the burgers
Put a little olive oil in a non-stick pan. Set the pan on the stove over medium-high heat.
Use a large enough pan so that your burgers won’t be crowded. (If the pan is crowded, the burgers will sort of steam, instead of develop a nice brown crust.)
Tip the pan a little to distribute the olive oil. After a minute or two, when the pan is hot, add your burgers to the pan.
Fry them like this for a few minutes on one side, without moving them around too much.
After a few minutes, the sides of the burgers should start to look cooked (toward the bottom).
When you see that, peek under one. If you have a nice brown crust, like this, flip them over.
Do the same thing on the other side.
When the burger is browned on the second side, flip it over. Lower the heat at this point and cook for another maybe 5 minutes. (If your burgers are thick like mine, you want them to cook through to the center without burning on the outside.)
Flip the burger one more time and cook it for about 5 minutes on the other side.
Your final cooking time will depend on how thick your burger patties are.
Basil & Garlic Pork Burgers: How to tell when your burger is done
How do you know when your burgers are done? Good question. Press on the center with a finger. It should feel solid, not squishy.
You can also insert a meat thermometer in the side of your burger so it reaches the center. You’re aiming for about 160 degrees.
When your burgers are done, yank them off the stove. Serve on buns with your favorite garnishes. I like lettuce or cheese with these.
Enjoy!
41 Comments on “Basil & Garlic Pork Burgers”
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I MISSED YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!! I kept checking to see if i missed your post! HOORAY!!! These burgers look divine!
Awww, shucks, Mara, thank you honey.
+Jessie
I am definitely trying this burger!! I have pork in the freezer that I can use and this is perfect!
Oh, fabulous! Let me know how they come out!
+Jessie
I made these last night Jessie! The photos turned out well so I am posting them this afternoon. Thank you so much for such a terrific blog!!!
P.S. I emailed you via FB. I don’t have your email directly but I had some questions for you….
Oh fabulous! So glad you liked them! (And Grumpy, too!) Can’t wait to read about it.
xoxo
+Jessie
Oh man, how I missed drooling over your delicious food! lol I bet this will be good as a turkey burgers too
Oh gosh, thanks honey pie.
Ya know, I’ve never made turkey burgers! I’m going to have to give it a whirl!
+Jessie
This looks so good! Really missed your posts…glad you are back!
Thanks, Doug!
It’s good to be back in the kitchen.
+Jessie
Welcome back! Lose burgers look fabulous!
Thank you! They’re super yummy! (Fire up the grill!)
+Jessie
Welcome back! This looks great, and I love that you showed the inside of the burger!
Thank you, Heidi! They were really yummy.
+Jessie
Your burgers sound awesome!
Thank you, Michelle!
+Jessie
Welcome back! The burger looks darn good!!
Thanks, honey pie.
+Jessie
Missed you girl! These look great and so yummy.
Aww, I missed you, too! Definitely give them a try!
+Jessie
Great to have you back Jessie!!
the burgers look absolutely fantastic – and being Italian, I love both garlic and basil
We don’t eat pork – do you think I could use chicken or turkey instead?
Thanks, Elisa! They’re so good. Hmmm, I’ll bet you could totally do this with chicken or turkey. Let me know if you try it?
(And…did I miss you? Did you get to Boston yet? I’m totally discombobulated…)
+Jessie
Welcome back Jessie! Those burgers certainly sound terrific yummmm
Cheers!
Gera
Thanks, Gera, honey!
+Jessie
Jessie –
VERY GLAD to see you back with rolled sleeves and dishing up lovely recipes like this pork burger!
I’ll get that grill going – Maybe we all can make these today in to show our support for Jessie!
cheers!
Gabi @ mamaliga
Aww, honey! (Would that make today National Mouse Burger Day?)
Thanks so much.
+Jessie
Welcome back!
Your burgers look amazingly delicious, and HUGE!! I assume that meat is from McKinnon’s yet again! Sounds very tasty, and quite adaptable to other types of meats (ground turkey).
Ahoy! Thank you! They were obnoxiously huge, and I have to report that I ate one entire one all myself…
And the meat is from McKinnon’s, of course.
+Jessie
The Mouse is back!!! And she roars with Basil and Garlic Pork burgers!! These will initiate my new grill.
I missed you alot! I’ve been eating corn flakes since you left. Well hellCOME Back!!!
Oh my goodness, thank you! Means so much to me.
Congrats on the new grill! How exciting! (We’re in the market for a new one, too…any recommendations?)
And cornflakes! Now we need to do something about that! Hehehehe….
+Jessie
As far as recommendations, I just went to Amazon and picked the one with most stars and best reviews, within my budget. The Weber 2005 Model 841001 22 1/2-Inch Performer Charcoal Grill With Touch and Go Propane Ignition will be my first grill purchased.
Oh this is divine- I am saving this one until my fresh garden basil is ready. Thanks…
They smell awesome!
And they’re going on my menu very soon.
Your Basil and Garlic Pork Burger, was the inspiration for the pork meatballs I made for dinner last night. Your photo was great and the idea of the pork and the basil really appealed to me. Thank you.
We made these for lunch yesterday, with a slight variation. I didn’t have basil on hand, but my sage is growing out of control. So I used sage, but cut the amount by half since it was so strongly flavored. And we cooked outside on the gas grill. It was delicious! We served with feta, parsley, and kalamata stuffed cubanelles – a perfect early summer lunch in our backyard
Incredible burgers! Just whipped up a batch and cooked them on the grill at lunchtime and they were amazing! Thanks.
I just saw this recipe and it looks incredible. I am the marketing director for the Illinois Pork Producers Association and we are going to focus on getting ground pork, pork burger patties, in grocery stores throughout Illinois. For some reason, they are not and when people taste a pork burger, they go insane with happiness!
I did a promotion at a collegiate baseball game last week (the team’s name is the Sliders) so we grilled up pork burger sliders and game them away to patrons pre game. Over 800 pork burgers were consumed in an hour with 90% begging for them in the stores! We grilled them on-site, just ground pork and Riley’s All Purpose seasoning on top and they were to die for!
I’m glad to see someone else appreciate the deliciousness of the pork burger and can’t wait to try this recipe.
Any ideas on how to go about getting ground pork into retail outlets? We have something working with Sam’s Club but we want it all!
Thanks for the recipe. I am going to give this a try with all my extra basil I have been growing all summer long. Thanks for all the detailed photos.
This burger taste delicious! I tried out this burger recently and did it in slightly different way. On top of your recipe, I added some chopped onion and grated lemon zest into the patty .This burger went very well with wasabi flavour mayonnaise and very compatible with roasted piquillo peppers. Initially I was planning to used bottled piquillo peppers, sadly to say we don’t have any Spanish grocery shop near by; therefore home grown roasted piquillo is the only option. I used this loaf tin to make a square burger bun.
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I was just looking around for a ground pork recipe and stumbled upon this recipe, it sounded wonderful so I tried it. Awesomely delicious! I’m gluten free so I don’t use bread and need to have my food taste really good, this did the trick. I topped mine with a little shredded mozzerella. ummmm ummmm good! By the way the nosy in me had to see why everyone was missing you, and I read your story. Thank you for posting it, I will be making changes to the way I handle my internet security. It’s a little after the fact, but I learned a lot, I never would think of anyone coming after a food blog, or any thing like it. Thanks again,
Barbara